Not even the latest eccentric episode in the drama that is the life of Mario Balotelli could entirely overshadow a result this damaging to Manchester City’s Europa League pretensions.
The striker emerged late for the second half last night, apparently because he had suffered an allergic reaction to the grass at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium. His team-mates were also uncomfortable on the surface and will have to effect a significant turnaround in next Thursday’s round-of-16, second-leg match if they are to overturn a two-goal advantage that an Andriy Shevchenko-inspired Dynamo Kiev side fully merited.
More than a minute of the second period had elapsed before Balotelli re-entered the fray, much to the bemusement of Roberto Mancini, the City manager. David Platt, the first-team coach, had to return to the dressing room to fetch the 20-year-old.
Given Balotelli’s notoriously volatile personality, there will be those who suspect that he had developed an allergy to facing tough opponents on a hard pitch in sub-zero temperatures on a night when little went right, but Mancini insisted that any such theories were unfounded.
“He wanted to come out for the second half, but he had this problem ten seconds before [the teams returned],” Mancini said. “I came out one minute before the players and I didn’t see Mario, and after, another guy told me that Mario had an allergy. He came out and said ‘I can play’, but his face was swollen.”
Advertisement
Hapless throughout the match, and repeatedly pointing to his face, Balotelli was finally substituted after 58 minutes, evidently to his great relief. The striker had two anti-histamine injections at half-time that failed to stem the swelling and the club doctor considered giving him an adrenalin shot.
He would not be the only leading footballer with this most inconvenient of work-related ailments; it was reported last October that Yoan Gouffran, of Bordeaux, had a grass allergy that made it hard for him to find his best form.
The conditions and Kiev’s excellent home record bred the suspicion before kick-off that this would be a night to be endured not enjoyed and so it proved for the visiting side. “We conceded two stupid goals,” Mancini said.
An ice necklace ringed the hills behind the stands. With the temperature dropping to -3C (27F) when the game kicked off at 10.05pm local time, the pitch was more suitable for Torvill and Dean than Touré and Dzeko. Mancini’s scarf was less a fashion accessory than essential survival gear. It was a night to make Fifa’s decision to ban snoods from July seem an act of the highest cruelty. Joe Hart, the City goalkeeper, wore tights.
An exceptional golfer, Shevchenko played a round on an exclusive course in Surrey with Teddy Sheringham last week before the Ukrainian league resumed after its winter break. Not that the 34-year-old should give up the day job quite yet. A run from the edge of the penalty area to the goalline after 12 minutes showcased a combination of delicacy and drive that was rarely seen during his spell at Chelsea.
Advertisement
With 25 minutes gone, the first good chance for either side brought a goal. A cross from Andriy Yarmolenko on the left found Shevchenko on the edge of the six-yard box and he bundled the ball past Hart. The England goalkeeper was hesitant, but might justifiably have expected Aleksandar Kolarov to have stuck closer to the striker. And Kolarov in turn might have hoped that City’s centre backs would be more attentive.
The City midfield did a poor job of protecting the back line and Kiev were able to make their way to the edge of the box with relative ease, although they fashioned few clear opportunities.
Edin Dzeko was disturbingly ineffectual, but City improved once Carlos Tévez replaced Balotelli. David Silva wasted their best chance of the night with 20 minutes to go before Oleh Gusev took advantage of more slack defending to smash the ball past Hart in the 77th minute and turn City’s poor night into a dismal one. Only a Hart save from Gusev when he broke clear in the last minute allowed City to avoid a disastrous scoreline.
City must now hope for warmer weather, kinder turf and no histamine or histrionics when they face Reading at home in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday before Thursday’s return leg. If they cannot rediscover the vibrancy they so lacked last night, then, like an acute hay-fever sufferer, the onset of spring will bring them only misery.
Dynamo Kiev (4-4-2): O Shovkovskiy — Danilo Silva, Y Khacheridi, A Yussuf, G Popov — O Gusev, O Vukojevic, R Eremenko, A Yarmolenko — A Shevchenko (sub: M Ninkovic, 88min), A Milevskiy. Substitutes not used: M Koval, Betão, D Garmash, A Kravets, L Almeida, Guilherme. Booked: Yussuf.
Advertisement
Manchester City (4-3-3): J Hart — M Richards, V Kompany, J Lescott, A Kolarov (sub: S Wright-Phillips, 82) — P Zabaleta, Y Touré, G Barry — M Balotelli (sub: C Tévez, 58), E Dzeko, D Silva. Substitutes not used: S Taylor, J Boateng, P Vieira, N de Jong, D Boyata. Booked: Balotelli, Tévez.
Referee: F Meyer (Germany).